Author's Note: Shit! This story has so many reviews and kudos and I just posted it 2 days ago! Thank you so much for all your support! It makes me want to write even more and it keeps the muse alive. Here's another chapter with our main leads. Next one I promise will be full of Clexa.
"It's done my Queen." was the first thing Clarke heard when she answered her phone. "Target is secure in her room."
"Thank you Miller." she said solemnly. "I need you to return so you can escort me to the meeting with the coven elders."
"I thought Bellamy was the sole one responsible for your security my Queen."
"Bellamy is no longer in charge of my security." she hissed. "You are."
"I'm honored my Queen." he responded immediately. "I will be there in five minutes with an escort of bodyguards." he finishes and hangs up the phone.
Clarke turns around from her chair to look at the sky. It was taking all of her self-control to not find Bellamy and finish what she started a few minutes ago. She was seething with anger not only because he attacked his mate, but also because he forced her hand by revealing their powers to a mundane. He had been reckless and a danger to their race. She should not allow him to live, and the queen inside of her was telling her that it was a risk to permit him to leave. But she had promised her mate to not do anything to him. But deep inside she was also saddened at the possibility of being responsible for her friend's death. She despised to kill but she knew it was necessary.
Bellamy had been correct when he accused her of being benevolent. She knew she was a promoter of equal treatment between different species and that's why she allowed the members of her coven the freedom to choose who they wished to mingle with. Her Sire Marcus had taught her that all creatures were equal to each other, that deep inside of each of them there were primal needs that they all shared. What made the difference was the intelligence and control each creature exercised over themselves and others. As the higher ones in the food and power chain, Clarke believed that vampires needed to have the role of teachers and maintainers of balance and peace. They were stronger and most of the times only other vampires were capable of killing the members of their own race. Which is why Clarke was doing her best to create an everlasting peace between the 13 covens. She knew that the only threat to vampires were other vampires and she wanted that old unnecessary conflict to stop.
The Coalition had been Marcus' dream and a successful experiment once the war was over. And yet Azgeda was threatening it one more time. She never understood the other coven's desperate need for conflict and blood. It was not difficult nowadays to find willing blood donors. Black Swans were becoming more popular and she had even made peace with the Hunters after promising to offer protection against nomad and rogue vampires. Each city that had settlements of vampires also had settlements of hunters, and it was Clarke the first queen that sought to create a treaty with them. That had been almost 30 years ago and their ceasefire soon became a full on peace treaty after the previous leader of the hunters died. The new ones that took control were more open to them and had even offered their support during the coven negotiations. Having the support of the hunters had incentivized the undecided clans to join in exchange of the freedom of not having to be worried about their members dying because of mundanes. Although Bellamy had believed that she was weak, Clarke knew different. She knew that alliances burdened the most powerful ally at first, but that later they helped in cementing future membership and longevity of the different parties. Vampires, although everlasting beings, were very shortsighted when it came to politics and usually allowed their passions and feelings to cloud their judgment. Clarke had been taught to be different. She had been taught to be cleverer. That was, of course, until she met Lexa.
Marcus would have told her to be careful when showing her affection, especially towards a specie that was weaker than her. He would have told her that being the Queen meant that people always craved her power, and if possible, would do anything to take it away from her, even murdering innocents. And deep inside of her, Clarke knew that Roan and Ontari would take advantage of her weakness. And this, although it was hard for her to admit, was the real reason she was going to deliver an ultimatum to Azgeda. She needed them to play their hand before they were aware of Lexa's existence and their bond. Bringing her tonight had been selfish of her, but she just could not stay away from the brunette woman willingly. Even now, during a time that Lexa had asked for herself, Clarke found it almost impossible to not seek the brunette. She needed her presence just as much, or perhaps even more, than blood. That level of dependence worried Clarke. It was not good for a queen to be dependent on another. Especially not now.
"My Queen." she hears Miller say from behind her. "We're ready."
"Good." she merely says and turns around to look at her vampires. "Remember, you'll be there only to prevent an attack; not start one. We wantAzgeda to be the ones that make the first move. We react."
"Yes my Queen." the younger vampire agrees. "My vampires are ordered to answer to your command only."
"Perfect." she smirks. "Now let us go to the meeting."
CLCLCLCL
Lexa was moving from side to side. All that happened a few hours earlier was still going through her mind like a movie. She could still feel Bellamy's hands on her arms, squeezing and holding tight. She could remember the roar that came out of Clarke's throat and the deep hatred and rage she could feel inside of her. Because strangely enough, she had felt all of those things from the moment Clarke made it outside the building. And she knew that those were the blonde's emotions and not hers. Just like it had been when she was scared of Bellamy and Clarke felt her fear, Lexa had felt Clarke's anger and hatred. She had felt it deep inside of her heart and the thoughts that had entertained her mind had scared her. For one moment she had found herself considering the death of the male vampire for hurting her and that had terrified her. That had made her realize the level of devotion and commitment Clarke felt for her: She was capable of killing for her.
Lexa had never experienced that kind of love, that kind of passion and raw need, from another human being. But Clarke is not a human, a small part of her murmured. And yet to her she was still the same woman she met two days ago. The same beautiful and powerful woman that had intrigued her so much when they met. The one that had convinced her to stay and to give them a chance. The one that almost killed her friend just to protect her. The one that looked so broken and vulnerable when she asked for space. The one that was slowly opening up to her; and the one that she knew she wanted. Because at the end of the day that was the question that Lexa needed to answer herself: Did she want to be with Clarke? Did she want to be with a vampire? The answer was yes. And that answer led to even more questions than the previous ones. Could she be with a vampire? And if she could, how would that even be like? Was everything that she was feeling an illusion or reality? Because she knew that the reason her emotions were now heightened was because of her connection to Clarke. She was not stupid and she quickly realized that she was now experiencing everything the blonde billionaire was feeling. That was how she knew how much it would pain Clarke to kill Bellamy- it was because of that connection that she knew the older woman cared about the male vampire. But even that friendship held nothing in comparison to what she now realized Clarke felt for her. It was so raw, possessive and erotic that it made Lexa blush and moan. And at the same time it was loving, desperate and longing that it made the brunette cry. How was it possible for the blonde to feel so many conflicting and opposite emotions? It was slowly messing with her mind and for some strange reason Lexa knew that the distance between them would do nothing more but increase the despair both of them were feeling. She couldn't do that to Clarke or herself. She just couldn't.
Getting her phone out of her bag, she checked her messages and noticed a text from Lincoln and a missed call from Indra and Gustus. Quickly answering her cousin's text, she dialed her aunt's number and waited for them to answer.
"Lexa!" the older woman said relieved. "I was so worried."
"Hi aunt Indra." she chuckles softly. "Why would you be worried?"
"Lincoln told us that you left yesterday morning to chase a thief and that you were supposed to return that same day." Indra explained and Lexa felt a little bad for not letting her family know about her change of plans. "So when you failed to answer his text and my call we got worried."
"I'm sorry aunt. I found out that the woman was not at the island the moment I arrived at the hotel."
"Was Lincoln's tip wrong? I will kill that boy..."
"It wasn't." she blushed. "I read it wrong and I came one day earlier. I stayed at a hotel and I'm waiting until I see her."
"How are you staying there if you didn't have a hotel registration? Or even another set of clothes?"
Lexa thinks about her answer for a while. It was too soon for her family to know about Clarke.
"I bought some." actually Clarke did. "And I was lucky to find a hotel room at the last minute." because of Clarke.
"That's very lucky Lexa." Indra says carefully. "But next time do let us know if you're changing your plans dear. You can never know what dangers you may face with these kind of people dear."
"I know aunt and I'm sorry for making you worry for nothing." she smiles softly. "Thank you for caring."
"Always dear." her aunt promises. "So when can we expect you home?"
"I don't want to make a big fuss out of this because an important event is going on at the hotel... So I'll probably wait until tomorrow night to make the arrest." Lexa explains. "The last thing I want is to be on the morning news."
"Call us the moment you're on your way home." Indra says.
"I will." the brunette woman promises. "Say hi to my uncle for me."
"He's working now but I'll tell him you called back the moment he returns home. He was worried as well."
"Sorry again." she apologizes one more time. Sometimes she forgets there are people out there that care about her safety. "Love you and I'll see you soon."
"Love you too Lexie." her aunt mocks her and Lexa groans in fake annoyance.
"Bye now." she hangs up with a smile on her face. Lincoln had texted her.
Lincoln: So you decided to stay for the weekend?
Lexa: Yes, too risky to bring her in earlier than Sunday.
Lincoln: Who did you meet?
Lexa: Is it that obvious?
Lincoln: To me yes. Spill.
Lexa: Her name is Clarke. She is staying at the hotel. We just met.
Lincoln: So that's why you're staying longer. You must really like her.
Lexa: She's special.
Lincoln: You're special as well little cousin. Remember that. Clarke is lucky to have you.
Lexa: I'm surprised you're not telling me that I should be more cautious with my feelings.
Lincoln: You're a grown woman Lexa. Besides, when the heart wants what it wants, who are we to stop it?"
Lexa: Thanks Lincoln. Means a lot.
Lincoln: Anytime. Just be careful with the Carter woman and don't underestimate her. She escaped us for a reason
Lexa: Will be. Talk to you soon.
Closing her conversation with Lincoln, Lexa takes a long breath. Speaking to her aunt and cousin had calmed her down. That had led her to think about the best way to face this new turn of events. She knew she wanted Clarke no matter what. And she knew that the best way for her to get the answers she needed was by asking the blonde woman herself. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on her, the way her blue eyes looked like and the way her lips smiled at her. Immediately she could feel the blonde's emotions and it astounded her to realize that it was even possible to do such a thing. Clarke was upset, that was clear, but at the same time she was trying to bury it all. She was trying to focus and to remain serious and uncaring. Whatever was happening with Clarke it had to be important. Besides, from what she could remember from earlier, Bellamy had called Clarke her queen, which possibly meant that the blonde woman had a position of power in her community. So, knowing that the worst thing that she could do right now was to call Clarke, she decided to go to bed and call the blonde woman tomorrow morning. Maybe Clarke also needed this time to figure things out.
CLCLCLCL
The first thing Clarke noticed was the smell of older vampires pouring from the room. They were all trying to showcase their powers and dominance over one another in a silly competition. But they had no chance against their Queen. Letting her markings and Primus brands show, she entered the room and all the vampires inside lowered to their knees. She made them do so by the shear strength of her power and not even Roan of Azgeda was capable of not submitting to her. That was just the power the Queen gained and none could challenge it directly unless they took it from her in a battle to the death or she died by natural causes (which were death either by another vampire or self-harm).
"You may rise." she said when she sat on her throne and had Miller and Harper, another vampire from Arkadia, alongside her.
"Queen." they all murmured while sitting down as well.
"The purpose of this meeting is to address the claims made by the Azgeda coven over the death of three of their members." a moderator from the Boat People said. "Roan, Primus Kom Azgeda, will present their claim."
Roan rises from his chair and nods towards the elders, including Clarke who merely shrugs. "The reason I'm here amongst you today is to demand justice. Justice for the three members of my coven who were viciously assassinated by the orders of our Queen Clarke Kom Arkadia." he speaks and his statement is met with silence.
"What evidence do you have to make such a claim?" the primus of the Desert Coven asks warily.
"I have the arms of the nomads responsible for the attack." he promises while getting a bag from his guard. "And as you will all see, the brands on their hands belong to the Queen's coven."
"Preposterous." the Primus from the Trikru coven hisses. "We all know that your only aim is to make the covens turn against the Queen and eliminate the Coalition. That's why you're the only coven not aligned to it. That's why the attacks your coven tended to perform on other vampires have diminished. You fear the Coalition and our army."
This made all the elders of the room speak to each other in hushed tones. They knew that the primus from Trikru was right. Azgeda had much to lose by being the sole coven non-aligned.
"Then explain the brands." Roan challenges while taking a hand from the bag out and showing it around. "Is this not your brand?" he asks Clarke.
"It is my brand." Clarke replies solemnly.
"She admits it!" Roan speaks with delight. "You've all heard her admit that this brand belongs to her coven. The Coalition was build so collaboration between covens was possible. This experiment has proved that we are capable of coexisting with one another. But there is one problem with the Coalition and that is that the Queen rules it. And the Queen herself belongs to a coven. How can we be sure that she won't place her own coven over the others? How can we be sure that she won't use your armies against you if you decide you no longer want to belong to the Coalition? Look at us; we never agreed on joining the Coalition and this is what happened: A set-up so you attack us and demote my wife and I from our throne."
The elders are all looking between Clarke and Roan, waiting for the Queen to react against the Primus' allegations. They had all shared their doubts about the Queen's power when they first formed the Coalition but up until now she had not abused of her gained powers. She was fair and she allowed each coven to negotiate and propose their own treaties with one another. The only general rules of the Coalition had been approved and accepted by the Primus of each coven and the process had been done as democratically as possible. But Roan of Azgeda could be right. And the Queen did not deny that the brand in the man's hand was her own. The Queen's dislike of Azgeda and its leaders came as no surprise to them. It had been Roan and Ontari the vampires responsible for killing her Sire and previous Primus of Arkadia Marcus Kane. It was a vampire's nature to wish for revenge when that happened. Queen Clarke had instead baffled them all by offering Azgeda a cease fire to finish the war. Perhaps this was her way of getting revenge.
"What say you, Queen Clarke Kom Arkadia?" the moderator asks hesitantly.
Instead of answering, Clarke simply stands up from her chair to look at all the vampires gathered in the room. She can notice their fear and wariness, their minds being hesitant about making a choice to support her or Roan. He had made a good argument and the hand with her brand was a nice touch. But what he didn't count on was that Clarke also launched her own investigation under the wing of her close friend and hacker genius Raven Reyes. And the brunette vampire had not disappointed her.
"When I first heard of Azgeda claiming that it had been Arkadia vampires the ones responsible for the death of their members I decided to launch my own investigation. As I said to you all many years ago when the Coalition was first founded: A vampire killing another vampire is the worst crime that can be done. My administration has done nothing but prevent this from happening and punish the vampires who commit this heinous act." Clarke says solemnly. "So imagine my surprise and shock when it was first thought that vampires of my coven were the first ones to break this rule."
"So it was your vampires the ones that killed mine." Roan said immediately.
"I never said that." Clarke clarified with a dark smile. "As I said, I launched my own investigation and the findings were quite surprising." she finishes while motioning for one of her guards to come forward. "Here is a video from the night of the murders. As you can see..." she points at the three vampires in the screen huddled together. "These are the three Azgeda vampires that were killed."
"I see their brands and markings." one elder says out-loud and the others agree.
"And, as you will also see, here are the two vampires that killed the Azgeda ones. It was done rather quickly. Too quickly for it to be mere luck."
"Because you planned it. We all know that one of your vampires, the one called Jasper Jordan, owns Disctopia. My coven members were given the poison in their drinks and hence became an easy target for your assassins."
"It's true that they were given poison." she says. "But that was not the fault of my vampires nor the crime was committed by them under my orders. Zoom on the arms of the vampires." she instructs Miller who does as said. "Here you can see that there are no brand marks in neither of their arms. The ones Roan Kom Azgeda showed you were planted."
"Are you claiming Azgeda planned to falsely accuse you?" Roan hisses and Clarke smiles.
"Not at all." the blonde vampire says. "You were deceived just like the rest of us. No one puts you at fault for it."
"Really?" the male vampire says. "You'll let this go just like that?"
"Of course not. Just because you were deceived that does not mean you'll get away with falsely accusing your Queen of murder." she hisses.
"So you'll use the army of the Coalition to attack Azgeda and claim the coven as your own?" Roan asks severely. "And hence finally get my coven to join your Coalition. What a coincidence, is it not?"
"It's not. Clearly someone wanted you to challenge your Queen. You were just stupid enough to do it." Clarke smirks and Roan snarls at the insult.
"So what will be the price for Azgeda's mistake?" the Primus of the Boat Coven asks.
"Azgeda will no longer have any treaties and trade with Arkadia."
"Trikru joins the Queen's sentence and retires their deals and treaties with Azgeda." the Primus of Trikru says immediately.
"So does the Boat Coven."
"And the Desert Coven."
It continued going until all the covens of the Coalition had made it known that they would no longer deal with the Azgeda. Roan was looking at her with hatred and anger in his eyes.
"We will die without dealing or trading." he hisses.
"There is another choice Azgeda can make." Clarke smirks and she notices the way Roan looks surprised. "As you said, you did not do this out of malice. And we all deserve second chances."
"You bitch!" Roan screams and Miller immediately places himself in front of Clarke in a protective stand. "You planned this all."
"I came prepared." she said with a dark smile. "You have the choice of leaving this meeting without a coven aiding you or you can swear loyalty to me and the Coalition by joining it."
"Never!" Roan hisses.
"Then you have doomed your coven to death. Ironic when the whole reason Azgeda called for this meeting was so they could obtain justice for their three dead vampires." Clarke retorts hauntingly. "Leave my territory by tomorrow or you and your delegation shall be attacked by my guards."
"This is not over Clarke." Roan says from afar.
"It is now." the Queen says serenely and all the elders, including Roan himself, have to kneel. "This meeting is over." she finishes and leaves the room.
"He will plan something my Queen." Miller says to her while walking back to the hotel.
"I'm aware." Clarke murmurs. "But now we have the support of the Coalition. And that was our goal Miller, for him to attack us first."
"So we'll go to war?" he asks softly.
"Maybe." she has to be honest. "With Azgeda's current leadership it will be impossible to have true peace. We must get rid of Roan and Ontari first."
"Why now and not years ago my Queen, if I may ask?" Harper asks softly.
"Because years ago we didn't have the Coalition." she reminds them. "Now we do. And we can use it in our favor."
"What do you mean my Queen?" Miller asks while opening the door of her room. The way back to the hotel had been a fast one.
"It means that the war we'll have now with Azgeda will not be in a battlefield. They know they'll lose if they engage in a battle between armies. No, they'll be more careful about it."
"So you believe Roan will not attack you tomorrow."
"No. He'll return to Azgeda to reconvene with Ontari and from there launch an attack. He has to prepare and plan, and that will take him time. Time that we will use in our favor." Clarke smiles cheekily.
"You knew they would react like this. You saw this coming." Miller says with a huge smile.
"Perhaps..." Clarke jokes softly. "But let's not underestimate Azgeda because of this small victory. They're ruthless and they don't care about anyone but themselves. That means they have nothing to lose. We do."
"So what do you want us to do?"
"I want you to prepare Miller. Start training vampires. Once this weekend ends we'll return to Arkadia and start preparing for war."
"What about Bellamy my Queen?" he has to ask.
"Bellamy will not join us."
"Understood my Queen." he kneels before turning around with Harper and the rest of guards. "Shall I escort you tomorrow as well?"
"You're my second from now on Miller. Plan as you deem." Clarke promotes him.
"I shall protect you with my life my Queen." Miller promises.
"And I appreciate your loyalty Miller." she smiles softly. "You can leave."
The younger vampire nods and quickly closes the door behind him.
Clarke then starts to think about the repercussions of what happened. She had made her move against Azgeda and now they were at war, meaning that now Lexa's life was in more danger than before. The moment Azgeda figured out that she had found her soulmate was the moment they would start moving heaven and hell to find her. And this meant that Lexa would not be safe. She had temporarily considered sending the brunette away but that was a foolish move to make. Not only would that leave the younger woman unprotected but it would also be physically impossible for them to function. The best place for Lexa to be at was by her side since she had the power, the means and the capacity to best defend her against her own enemies. Clarke had watched too many Hollywood movies to know that the worst mistake the lead usually made was to try to protect their beloved by pushing them away. She was cleverer than that. Clarke already bonded with a mundane and she was not going to lose Lexa because of her own foolishness. She just had to convince the brunette and show her that staying with by her side was the best thing but for them and her safety.